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utorak, 23. veljače 2010.

Faith&Void -Split Album

This record is nothing short of amazing, teaming two of the best hardcore bands from the early Washington DC scene. Void is unlike anything else before or after - totally spastic and disjointed punk rock that often seems like it's about to fall apart into noisy chaos only to go blasting back into anthemnic hardcore. Jon Weiffenbach's shrieked vocals are almost as over the top as the music. Bubba Dupree stands out as a DC guitar player who experimented with feedback and atonal solos in the same mind as Greg Ginn or Hendrix but with a weirdness that only Void could accomplish. These songs range from the more normal hardcore anthems like "My Rules" to total freakouts like the lead track "Who Are You" which combines a Sabbath-like riff with all out thrash and stops only for a break that consists of guitar feedback and random bass notes. "Organized Sports" also destroys all expectations with the most bizarre back-up vocals ever recorded. The only band that comes close to this insanity is Deep Wound.

On the Faith side you get a similarly diverse, if more standard set of DC hardcore. These guys are so underappreciated it's sad. Minor Threat's influence is still obvious in tracks like "Face to Face," but Faith definately had their own thing going on. For one thing, Alec's voice is totally spiteful, and the slow songs really have a darkness that no other DC band came near to. At times, "You're X'd" being one, Faith almost sound like they should have been from Boston. I think the "Subject to Change" LP is where this band really left their mark, but these tracks show why people have called them the heart of harDCore. This split captures Void at their peak, just before they fell apart into bad metal and non-songs, and Faith before they added the melodic element that would change the whole DC sound.